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December 21, 2012

San Jose, Calif. -- Adobe Systems, the San Jose-based developer of web publishing software, said it has acquired New York-based Behance, developer of a social media platform that lets users showcase and share their creative work. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Adobe said the acquisition will help add new community features to Creative Cloud, its hub where members can use the company's creative tools and services, then publish and share their work. "When we launched Creative Cloud earlier this year, we committed that we would give members new value on an ongoing basis," said David Wadhwani, Adobe's senior vice president and general manager. "Behance will play a key role in Adobe’s efforts to serve the creative world in the years to come and will accelerate our efforts to enable a more open and collaborative creative community." There are currently more than 3 million projects hosted on the Behance platform. http://www.adobe.comhttp://www.behance.nethttp://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/201212/122012AdobeAcquiresBehance.html

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Coherent, a Santa Clara-based provider of photonics technology to the commercial and scientific research markets, said on Friday it has acquired Germany's Lumera Laser in an all-cash deal worth approximately $52 million. Lumera is a developer of ultrafast solid state lasers for microelectronics, materials processing and OEM medical applications. "The acquisition of Lumera complements our internal programs and other recent acquisitions targeted at the rapidly expanding area of short-pulse micromaterials processing and non-refractive ophthalmic surgery," said John Ambroseo, the president and CEO of Coherent.http://www.coherent.comhttp://www.coherent.com/investors/index.cfm?fuseaction=Popups.ViewRelease&ID=980

San Bruno, Calif. -- Gangnam Style, the mega-popular dance hit from 34-year-old Korean pop artist PSY, has become the first video ever to reach one billion views on YouTube, the Google unit said on Friday. The video has been viewed at least 1 million times in nearly 75 countries. "Gangnam Style" was YouTube's top rising search of 2012 and on Oct. 6, was the subject of more than 5 million searches in a single day. The company said it took just five months for the video to surpass its previously most-watched video, Justin Bieber's "Baby."http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2012/12/ytvev.html

December 20, 2012

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- Oracle, the Redwood Shores-based developer of back-office business software, said on Thursday it will pay approximately $871 million to acquire Virginia-based Eloqua, a maker of software designed to automate the marketing process. Under the deal, expected to close by mid-2013, Oracle will pay $23.50 a share. Oracle said it plans to integrate Eloqua's software into its "customer experience cloud," which will include tools designed to help clients market, sell, support and serve their customers. The company said Eloqua's technology will become the core of its Oracle Marketing Cloud service. "Exceptional customer experience starts with knowing your customer's preferences and delivering a highly personalized buying experience," said Joe Payne, the chairman and CEO of Eloqua. http://www.eloqua.com/http://www.oracle.com/eloquahttp://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/1887595

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Pluribus Networks, a Palo Alto-based maker of hardware-accelerated network virtualization tools for datacenters, said on Thursday it has raised $23 million in its third round of funding, led by Menlo Ventures. Previous backers New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Mohr Davidow Ventures also participated in the round, which the company will use to meet customer demand. Pluribus's Netvisor operating system runs on the company's Server-Switch hardware, providing a platform for fabric-based computing that lets apps move into the network and serve both physical and virtual network infrastructure. Founded in 2010, the company also raised $17.5 million in a round that closed in April 2011. http://www.pluribusnetworks.comhttp://www.pluribusnetworks.com/news/#pn-funding

San Mateo, Calif. -- Electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn on Thursday acquired a nearly 9% stake in San Mateo-based GoPro, a maker of wearable and gear mountable cameras, for $200 million. The deal values the company at $2.25 billion. Terry Gou, Foxconn's founder and CEO, will join GoPro's board. Products manufactured by Foxconn include Apple's iPhone and iPad, the Sony PlayStation and the Microsoft Xbox. "Foxconn and GoPro see a future where personal content capture and enjoyment will play an increasingly important role in our lives," said Nicholas Woodman, GoPro's founder and CEO.http://www.gopro.comhttp://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/foxconn-acquires-200-million-stake-in-gopro-184260891.html

December 19, 2012

Palo Alto, Calif. -- LUMO BodyTech, the Palo Alto-based developer of a sensor device designed to improve posture, said on Wednesday it has raised $5 million in its first round of funding, led by Madrona Venture Group. Innovation Endeavors and Jerry Yang also participated in the round, which the company will use to bolster sales and marketing, product development and engineering activities. The company's first product, known as LUMOback, is a form-fitting device that uses a lightweight sensor to track posture and movement, vibrating gently when the wearer slouches or sits for extended periods. The sensor records and transmits biomechanical movements and posture data via Bluetooth to a mobile app, providing a visual that mirrors the wearer's movements. LUMO is currently shipping early versions of the product to Kickstarter backers now, with retail release scheduled for early next year. http://www.lumoback.comhttp://finance.yahoo.com/news/lumo-bodytech-closes-5-million-120000076.html

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Signifyd, the Palo Alto-based developer of a risk and fraud prevention platform, said on Wednesday it has raised $2 million in seed funding, which the startup plans to use to expand its engineering team and accelerate product development. Participants included Andreessen Horowitz, Data Collective, IA Ventures, QED Investors, Resolute.VC, Tekton Ventures and other angel investors. Signifyd was founded in 2011 by former PayPal employees to address the complexity of payment validation. Between chargebacks, mistakenly declined orders, and countermeasure costs, the company said the average e-commerce retailer loses 3.1% to fraud each year. "The techniques used by fraudsters are evolving faster than the existing prevention tools," said co-founder and CEO Raj Ramanand. "We pull together all the data needed to screen a transaction and look at the identities involved holistically."https://www.signifyd.comhttp://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121219006248/en/Signifyd-Raises-2-Million-Seed-Financing-Deliver

San Francisco -- FitStar, a San Francisco-based startup developing a digital health and fitness platform, said on Wednesday it has raised $1 million in a seed round, led by Google Ventures. Advancit Capital and Floodgate Fund also participated in the round, which the company will use to grow its staff and support its first product, a video-based iPad app releasing in the first half of 2013. Mike Maser, FitStar's co-founder and CEO, said the company's platform will power health and fitness apps "that are engaging, entertaining, and which adapt to each user's capabilities." Maser previously held executive leadership positions at AOL, Electronic Arts and Digg, while co-founder Dave Grijalva most recently was the director of platform technology at ngmoco. http://www.fitstar.comhttp://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121219006388/en/Digital-Fitness-Company-FitStar-Attracts-Early-Funding

Menlo Park, Calif. -- National Geographic, the iconic nonprofit educational and scientific organization, announced on Tuesday that it will no longer post photos on Instagram, the popular photo-sharing app owned by Menlo Park-based Facebook. The action by National Geographic comes in response to new terms of service released by Instagram that have resulted in a torrent of criticism from users who claim the new rules would permit Instagram to sell their photos. "@NatGeo is suspending new posts to Instagram," wrote National Geographic. "We are very concerned with the direction of the proposed new terms of service and if they remain as presented we may close our account." For its part, Instagram responded to the controversy on its blog on Tuesday, arguing that it has no intention of selling user photos. "Our intention in updating the terms was to communicate that we'd like to experiment with innovative advertising that feels appropriate on Instagram," wrote Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram. "Instead it was interpreted by many that we were going to sell your photos to others without any compensation. This is not true and it is our mistake that this language is confusing."http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57559931-93/national-geographic-turns-off-instagram-over-new-terms/http://blog.instagram.com/post/38252135408/thank-you-and-were-listening

Milpitas, Calif. -- Gigamon, a Milpitas-based developer of traffic visibility networking tools, said on Wednesday that co-founder Ted Ho has stepped down as its CEO. The company has promoted Paul Hooper, most recently its vice president of marketing and product management, to fill the void. "With his in-depth knowledge of the company, our industry and our customers, Paul has the right skills and ability to lead Gigamon through the next stage of growth," said Corey Mulloy, a general partner at Highland Capital Partners and a member of Gigamon's board of directors. http://www.gigamon.comhttp://www.gigamon.com/content13915

Mountain View, Calif. -- Exablox, the Mountain View-based developer of a cloud-managed storage system for unstructured data, said on Tuesday it has raised $22 million in new funding. The company said it secured $7 million in its first round, co-led by DCM and Norwest Venture Partners, and $15 million in its second round, led by US Venture Partners. It plans to use the proceeds to expand product development, industry partnerships and marketing activities. Founded in 2010, Exablox said it has built its system from the ground up, working with customers and partners to eliminate pain points such as runaway costs, complicated installation, cumbersome management and lack of data security. "Companies are frustrated by being forced into expensive storage products made unbearably complex by layers of bolt-on technologies, when they simply want a solution to address their business needs," said CEO Douglas Brockett. http://www.exablox.comhttp://www.exablox.com/news.html

San Francisco -- Grockit, the San Francisco-based developer of a social learning network, said on Tuesday it has landed a new round of funding, led by Discovery Communications, the Maryland-based media company behind such cable TV staples as the Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet. Other participants include Summit Group and previous backers Atlas Venture, Benchmark Capital, Integral Capital Partners and GSV Capital. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. In addition to the investment, the relationship with Discovery also includes other business aspects, such as shared technology, as well as possible marketing, distribution and promotion opportunities with Grockit's Learnist platform. Launched in May, Learnist encourages users to learn from and teach each other about a wide range of academic and casual learning topics. Users curate media-rich boards, called Learn Boards, to share their knowledge. The company also launched Learnist apps for the iPad and iPhone in September. "Our relationship will combine Learnist social learning technology with Discovery's massive reach and footprint," said Grockit CEO Roy Gilbert. http://www.grockit.comhttp://www.discoverycommunications.comhttp://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121218006359/en/Grockit-Announces-Strategic-Investment-led-Discovery-Communications

December 17, 2012

San Francisco -- Influitive, developer of a B2B marketing platform with offices in San Francisco and Toronto, said on Monday it has raised $7.3 million in its first round of funding, co-led by Hummer Winblad and Relay Ventures. Previous backers Lightspeed Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Illuminate Ventures, Resolute.VC and Common Angels also participated in the round, which the company will use to expand its marketing, sales and services teams, as well as to accelerate the development of AdvocateHub, its advocate marketing platform. The platform is designed to help marketers recruit, mobilize and recognize advocates that support marketing campaigns, refer new clients and help close deals faster. Lars Leckie of Hummer Winblad and Alex Baker of Relay Ventures will join Influitive's board of directors.http://www.influitive.comhttp://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/influitive-secures-73-million-in-series-a-funding-to-empower-customer-advocates-183763641.html

Mountain View, Calif. -- Google may be nearing a deal with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that would end the agency's two-year antitrust probe into the Internet search giant, Politico reported. Two unnamed sources told the publication that Mountain View-based Google would make several voluntary changes under the proposed deal, including limiting its use of "snippets" of user reviews from sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp. Those and other similar sites have long complained that Google has been publishing their content without permission. In another proposed settlement with the FTC, Google also would stop using its vast stockpile of patents to keep competitors from getting many of their products to market. More details are available at the link below. http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/google-to-tweak-practices-to-end-search-probe-85125.html

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Aeria Games & Entertainment, a Santa Clara-based publisher of free-to-play online games, said on Monday it has merged with Gamepot, a Japanese developer of PC and mobile games. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The combined entity will operate under a U.S.-based holding company headed by Lan Hoang, the CEO of Aeria Games, and Hiroki Totoki, the chairman of Gamepot. Aeria shareholders will own a majority stake, though each company will continue its own brand identity. Hoang said the merger "helps to cement our position as a truly global multi-platform publisher and developer." The combined entity will have almost 600 employees with offices in the U.S., Japan, Germany, Brazil, and Korea. http://www.aeriagames.comhttp://company.gamepot.co.jp/english/http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121217005458/en/Aeria-Games-Gamepot-Merge-Create-Global-Force

San Francisco -- Velti, an Irish developer of mobile marketing and advertising technology with U.S. headquarters in San Francisco, on Monday named Jeff Ross as its new CFO. He succeeds Wilson Cheung, Velti's, who will assume a new role focused on the company's Asian markets. Ross most recently served as the CFO at Sybase, where he also previously served as chief accounting officer and corporate controller. He becomes the fourth senior executive to join Velti's top ranks in the past six months.http://www.velti.comhttp://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121217005694/en/Velti-Appoints-Jeff-Ross-Chief-Financial-Officer

California fell two spots to No. 41 in Forbes' newly released list of "The Best States for Business and Careers." Utah topped the list for the third straight year, followed by Virginia, North Dakota, North Carolina and Colorado. While California led the nation in terms of growth prospects, it was hurt by low rankings in business costs (No. 43), regulatory environment (40) and economic climate (No. 37). The complete list is available at the link below.http://www.forbes.com/best-states-for-business/

December 14, 2012

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- Oracle, the Redwood Shores-based maker of back-office business software, said it will acquire Sausalito-based DataRaker, developer of a cloud-based analytics platform that lets electric, gas and water utilities to use vast amounts of data to optimize their operations. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. "Big data created by smart meters and sensors has presented utilities with an enormous opportunity to improve operations and deliver better customer service," said Rodger Smith, the senior vice president and general manager of Oracle Utilities, adding that the acquisition will allow his company to "provide customers a complete and integrated set of products to further unlock efficiencies."http://www.oracle.comhttp://www.dataraker.comhttp://www.oracle.com/datarakerhttp://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/1885589

December 13, 2012

Milpitas, Calif. -- SanDisk, the Milpitas-based maker of flash memory storage devices, said on Thursday it has launched a $75 million venture capital program to invest in startups in the flash memory space. The initiative, to be known as SanDisk Ventures, already has made its first investment, as part of a $31 million round for New Jersey-based data storage company Whiptail. SanDisk said the fund will specifically target the areas of solid-state memory technology, enterprise storage, storage technologies managing "big data" and cloud computing technologies. "Our investments in innovative startups and new technologies can help accelerate market growth, provide deeper insight into potential disruptive uses of flash and promote closer ties to key industry players," said Sumit Sadana, SanDisk's executive vice president and chief strategy officer. http://www.sandisk.comhttp://www.sandisk.com/about-sandisk/press-room/press-releases/2012/sandisk-launches-new-venture-capital-investment-initiative/

Emeryville, Calif. -- Lithium Technologies, a developer of software that lets businesses create their own social networks and online communities, said on Thursday it will move its headquarters from Emeryville to San Francisco, more than doubling its office space. The company said it will relocate to the historic Standard Oil Building in downtown San Francisco by June 2013. The approximately 50,000 square feet space is being reconfigured to accommodate around 400 employees, as well as a customer briefing center. "With our rapid growth and numerous additions across the Lithium team in the past year we’ve quickly reached capacity at our current facility," said CEO Rob Tarkoff. "Our new headquarters will give us the space we need to accommodate our growth." Lithium also has named Jennifer Trzepacz as its senior vice president of human resources. Trzepacz most recently served as the vice president of human resources at LivingSocial. .http://www.lithium.comhttp://www.lithium.com/news-events/press-releases/2012/lithium-technologies-sets-move-for-new-san-francisco-headquarters

San Ramon, Calif. -- Green Plug, a San Ramon-based developer of programmable mixed-signal controllers for the AC-DC power converter market, said it has raided an unspecified amount in its third round of funding, led by Imagination Technologies Group. Herald Ventures, Killik & Co. and Peninsula Ventures also participated in the round. "Our goal is to become the IP leader in our space, delivering on the promise of bringing innovative and affordable solutions for AC-DC power devices, integrated wireless power and eventually, when the market is right, Smart Grid connectivity," said founder and CEO Frank Paniagua Jr. Green Plug's technology enables consumer electronics manufacturers to upgrade from traditional analog-controlled power adapters to "smart" digitally controlled systems designed to save power and speed product development.http://www.greenplug.comhttp://www.greenplug.us/pressreleasedetail.php?id=127

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Yahoo, the Sunnyvale-based Internet giant, on Thursday named Max Levchin to its board of directors, filling one of the voids created by the resignations of David Kenny and Brad Smith, who are stepping down to focus on their companies. Levchin is a computer scientist, serial entrepreneur and angel investor with experience building Internet companies. He also has served as the vice president of engineering at Google after its acquisition of Slide, an early developer of social apps that he founded and ran. In addition, Levchin incubated and was the first investor in Yelp. The company's board now has 11 members. http://www.yahoo.comhttp://pressroom.yahoo.net/pr/ycorp/241776.aspx

December 12, 2012

Santa Clara, Calif. -- CloudVelocity, the Santa Clara-based developer of a hybrid cloud automation platform, said on Wednesday it has landed $5 million in its first round of funding from Mayfield Fund. The company will use the proceeds to accelerate the development of its hybrid cloud automation software, and has announced the release of its beta trial software. "Our goal is to enable enterprises to operate hybrid clouds as seamless extensions of the data center," said CEO Rajeev Chawla. "Cloud cloning, migration and failover are our first steps in that direction."http://www.cloudvelocity.comhttp://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121212005432/en/CloudVelocity-Emerges-Stealth-Mode-Announces-5-Million

San Francisco -- Plizy, the San Francisco-based developer of a cloud-based tool designed to let users search, watch and share any content available online, said on Wednesday it has raised $4 million in its first round of funding from Atlas Venture. The company will use the proceeds to work on expanding its audience, aggregating more content from providers such as Cinemax, Snagfilm and Starz, and building out its offerings across multiple platforms, specifically on Android and iOS. It previously raised $1.2 million in angel funding. Plizy first launched its iPad app in May 2011 to allow users to find relevant online videos based on their individual interest graph. Then, last month, the company launched an updated version, including a new website and iPad app. Plizy currently aggregates more than 550,000 movies, 200,000 shows and 100 million videos from the major video services. http://www.plizy.com . http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121212005488/en/Plizy-Raises-4-Million-Series

Mountain View, Calif. -- Jibe Mobile, a Mountain View-based developer of cloud-based communications technology, said on Wednesday it has raised $8.3 million in a new round of funding. Vodafone Ventures, Japanese game developer MTI and other investors took part in the round, which the company will use to build its platform that it says will enable developers to rapidly incorporate rich communications -- like video chat and real-time gaming -- into mobile apps. "There is no doubt that rich communications is becoming an increasingly important part of the consumer mobile experience," said co-founder and CEO Amir Sarhangi. "Jibe's mission is to make carrier-grade communications simple and accessible for the global market."http://www.jibemobile.comhttp://www.jibemobile.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Jibe-Funding-Press-Release.pdf (PDF)

San Carlos, Calif. -- NatureBox, the San Carlos-based developer of a healthy snack subscription service, said it has raised $2 million in a seed round of funding, co-led by General Catalyst Partners and Redpoint Ventures. Several individual investors also participated. Launched in January, NatureBox delivers subscribers 15-20 servings of 4-6 items for $19.95 a month. Items are curated by a nutritionist based on a seasonal health and wellness theme, and sourced from local growers and independent food suppliers. All snacks are free from high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, trans fats and artificial sweeteners, flavors and colors. The concept evolved from co-founder Gautam Gupta's personal struggle with childhood obesity, as well as his time spent as a venture capitalist. "We focused on snacks because today's children and adults are snacking three times more than they did just 30 years ago and consuming a third of their daily calories from snacks," said Gupta. "Snacking is what caused my obesity, and I know my struggles could have been prevented if I had had easier access to healthier choices." The company plans to use the proceeds to enhance its online shopping platform, fill key management positions and scale operations.http://www.naturebox.comhttp://www.marketwire.com/press-release/naturebox-raises-20-million-to-deliver-healthy-snacking-to-americas-doorstep-1736288.htm